Pig’s Trotters in Ginger and Sweetened Vinegar 豬腳薑醋

This traditional Chinese dish conveys a mystical message even in Chinese community, as it’s often cooked for women post-labour. In fact, it’s a dish that everyone, including men, can enjoy, and needless to have a fear of embarrassment. Many Chinese yumcha restaurants offer this dish with a very pricey tag. The pig’s trotters (aka pork knuckles) are so moist, tender and succulent after the slow cooking in the tasty sweetened black vinegar. The natural collagen of pig’s trotters is very good for our health too. Both of my daughter and hubby especially like the hard boiled eggs that soaked in the tasty sauce. They can finish one after another. What I have to do is to make sure they don’t over eat.

Every family has its own version of this dish. The recipe I posted here is adapted from my mother-in-law’s cooking. She used to cook this dish for her daughter and every daughter-in-laws in her family, including me of course. Lucky me, I could learn from her in person during my travel back to Hong Kong. Hope you’d enjoy this dish as much as I do. A side note, my MIL only uses the Pat Chun Sweetened Vinegar（百珍甜醋）, because she loves its taste the most and doesn’t need to blend it any other kind of vinegar.

Peel the ginger. Cut into smaller pieces if it’s too large. Lightly bruise the ginger with the broad side of a cleaver or chef’s knife. Cook over low heat on a wok or fry pan without any oil. (This cooking method is called “white wok” (白鑊) in Chinese, that means frying without any oil.) By doing so, help the ginger dries up the water inside as much as possible. Make sure not to burn the ginger though. When the ginger looks dry, add a bit of oil, fry the ginger until aromatic. Set aside.

Use a large clay pot or a casserole (Don’t use cast iron or metal ones though, not suitable for cooking vinegar.) Pour in the vinegar. Cook over medium heat and bring it to boil. Add the ginger. When it boils again, reduce heat to low and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Cover and store at a cool and shady place, the vinegar and ginger will keep longer. Or place in a fridge, let the ginger absorb the flavour. You need to cook the ginger vinegar and bring it to a boil once a week, then let cool. If the vinegar is not polluted, it could last for 4 to 5 weeks, long enough to sustain for consuming during confinement period.

Rinse and clean the pork trotters/hocks, remove any hairs if any. Blanch in boiling water for about 20 minutes to remove any impurities and blood. Drain well. Set aside.

Remove ginger vinegar from fridge. Place at room temperature for a while. Then cook and bring it to a boil. Add the pig’s trotters. When it boils, reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour, or until the pork becomes tender.

While cooking the pork, prepare hard boiled eggs: Place eggs and water in a saucepan, the water should cover the eggs. Turn on the heat, cook the eggs on medium heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 6 minutes. Drain out the eggs with a slotted spoon and immediately transfer to a bowl of very cold water. Leave to cool completely. Shell the eggs.

Transfer the eggs to the ginger vinegar. When it boils again. Turn off the heat. Let the eggs soak in the vinegar until turned brown on surface. Done. Serve hot.

Notes:

The amount of ginger used here was quite small compared to an ordinary confinement one as I just cooked this to ease our craving. You could adjust the amount of ginger and pork to your preference. It’s very flexible.

Make sure the vinegar cover all the ingredients, so get a clay pot or casserole in the right size.

The traditional way of making this confinement dish for women is to use old ginger. That said, old ginger is good for helping women to expel wind from abdomen and get speedy recovery from giving birth. However, the woody, fiberous texture of old ginger is quite tough, not an enjoyment to eat for some people. Thus, if you don’t cook it as a confinement dish, just like me, use young ginger. You’ll enjoy the less hot taste and tender texture of young ginger more.

Drooling....drooling....my favourite dish! Yes, I will also eat the eggs one after another. Will tell myself it's ok once in a while...hehe. It's a long time I have not eaten this dish. I need to look for the pig's trotters first. Thanks very much for sharing.

Thanks again for this recipe. One of our girlfriends just had a baby girl. Among our friends were talking / craving about 豬腳薑醋 last weekend, but none of us knows how to make it. Now, no more excise, now we can get start it.

After the two girls I let her think I would only have a 3rd baby if she would make it for me. We had a boy the 3rd time so no more after that! She used to use pork butt for me cos I was squeamish over the trotters!. Youngest son's wife is due their second baby and I have promised to make this for them this time round! Thank you again for sharing this recipe. My own scottish mother loves this and remembers the wonderful smell when it was on the cooker.

@Anonymous:That said ginger is not suitable for consuming for the 1st week after labour as it delays the healing of wounds. If breast feeding, take note that ginger more or less can lead to baby's jaundice through breastmilk.

As for c-section, the wounds are bigger and longer, so the healing time would be longer. That said, it's better to avoid some foods that will stimulate vigorous growth or irritate the muscles around the wounds.

I had never got interested eating things like this because it looked grotesque; however, my chinese friend told me that this contained good source for joint and skin. It is impossible to cook this but i try to eat this in Chinese restaurant. it was not smell bad and very soft.

Hi Christine, I live in NYC would I be able to find the vinegar in any asian market? Also my mother in law made a similar recipe but it was too overly sweet. Would you suggest adding water and an additional bottle of unsweetened black vinegar?

To fellow Malaysians, imported sweetened vinegars are easily available in chinese grocers & hypermarkets. Tq Christine for sharing this recipe. My deceased dad used to make delicious vinegared trotters but i never got to learn from him. Other than trotters what other parts of meat can i use? Non fatty & will come out tender after cooking.

Hi Christine, I tried this recipe and it was delicious on the day I made it. However, when the pork is left overnight in fridge, it turned really tough. The eggs were also inedible the next day. Do you have the same problem? I am wondering if it is due to the acidity in the amount of sweet vinegar (I did not add water to dilute).

Hi HomechefJo,I have never experienced your problems at all.Did the sweet vinegar totally cover the pig’s trotters? Otherwise it'd turn dry and tough. The longer the trotters are soaked in the sweet vinegar, the tender they become.

For the eggs, the case is opposite. The longer the eggs are soaked in the sweet vinegar, the harder they become.

Hi Christine, I am confused on the step when you mentioned store and cool and vinegar and ginger. Is this a must? Or can I just straight away boil the vinegar and ginger and place the pig trotters into it together?

Hi Chelsea,This my mother-in-law's way. She wants to get the ginger soaked in the vinegar for a longer time so that the vinegar picks up more flavours. And then she cooks the pig trotters in the vinegar with ginger. It won't take long to get the trotters softened.

It's all up to you. You can boil all the ingredients in one go if you like.

Hi Chelsea,It all depends on how you like it. For us, we keep the ginger soaked in the vinegar for about 1 to 2 weeks. In the meantime, the vinegar should be covered well and keep clean from anything.After the ginger flavour is well developed into the vinegar, then you can use it to boil the pig trotter.

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